He continued to write after getting transferred to another prison, sharing his experiences behind bars.

“I thought, wow, this kid is smart,” Baigrie said. “Let’s not waste this life. Let’s give him a chance. He was smart, he was remorseful.”

So she wrote him back.

Because of laws preventing victims from visiting inmates, the two never met in person. But through their correspondence, Baigrie learned more about Manuel’s case. She began attending his court hearings, where the two shared an occasional wave.

At the beginning of his sentence, prison officials placed Manuel in isolation because of his age and size, according to The Equal Justice Initiative, an Alabama nonprofit whose attorneys have been involved in the case since 2006.

But the scenario didn’t necessarily protect Manuel from himself. Isolation had a severe impact on his mental health.

He repeatedly acted out, leading him to spend nearly 20 years separated from the general prison population.

“Once in solitary confinement, it's very hard to get released without achieving performance objectives that were impossible for a 15-year-old boy who had been told he would die in prison,” said Bryan Stevenson, EJI’s founder and executive director.

Baigrie at Manuel's December 2011 re-sentencing hearing. Baigrie's daughter, to her mom's right, was a year old when the shooting occurred.AP

In 2010, the Supreme Court threw out life sentences for juveniles, and Baigrie began advocating for Manuel's early release, arguing he had served sufficient time.

Manuel’s life sentence was eventually thrown out and reduced on two separate occasions.

On Nov. 10, based on time already served, Manuel, now 39, was freed from prison.

'A second mom'

Manuel's last day was spent waiting for his legal team to process his release. He was headed to Alabama to join an EJI program that helps former child inmates adapt to life outside prison.

But before that, he met Baigrie at the gas station parking lot, where the two embraced like old friends

Baigrie and Manuel just hours after he was released from prison. "It was like a long lost reunion," Baigrie said. Courtesy Debbie Baigrie

“I didn’t feel like I was hugging a stranger. Debbie’s not only like a guardian angel, she’s like a second mom,” said Manuel, whose real mother, along with other immediate relatives, died while he was in prison.

They ended up at a pizza joint in downtown Tampa, just a few blocks from where the shooting occurred 26 years earlier.

Over slices and sodas, they chatted about his future plans and about her daughters, who were 1 and 3 when she was shot. She showed off pictures of her granddaughter and her dogs, and they snapped a few selfies together.

The impact of Baigrie’s support over the years is “hard to quantify,” said one of his EJI attorneys, Ben Schaefer.

The two shared some pizza at a downtown Tampa restaurant. Courtesy Debbie Baigrie

“What does it mean to a traumatized kid, racked with guilt and stuck in solitary confinement, to have the person he hurt recognize his humanity?” he said. “Ian would not be where he is today without her.”

Meanwhile, since leaving prison, Manuel slowly has begun to readjust to society. He's gotten a haircut, opened a bank account and visited a laundromat, among other day-to-day tasks.

He's doing his best not to get overwhelmed.

“It’s crazy. I went shopping for groceries the other day, and I wasn’t lost, but society has changed so much,” he said.

Baigrie doesn’t know how their relationship will play out, although she knows they will stay in touch.

Manuel lives in Alabama, where he's in a program to help former child inmates adapt to life outside prison. Courtesy Debbie Baigrie

“We just have to let the dust settle. This is all very fresh,” she said. “My main wish and focus for him, as well as his legal team, is getting him acclimated and adjusted.”

But she hopes her friendship with Manuel will inspire others to forgive.

“We all make mistakes, we all try our best, and life is so short,” she said. “And if anybody knows how your life can be gone in one minute, it’s me. I understand that. We have to forgive, because it helps us heal.”